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"Manifest Destiny" 

FROM I ^ ^ 

A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 



An Address Delivered before the Boston Music 
Hall Patriotic Association, Novem- 
ber 6, 1898. 



Prof. Luther Tracy Townsend, D.D. 



To both our houses. May they see 
Beyond the borough and the shire ; 
We sail'd wherever ship could sail, 

We founded many a mighty state ; 
Pray God our greatness may not fail 

Thro' craven fear of being great." 



To be obtained from 

BALTIMORE METHODIST, 6 South Calvert St. 

Baltimore, Md. 

Single Copies 10 cts. Ten Copies 50 cts. 



2nd COPY, 



6lUVt»£S- 



DEC 14 1898 



E'7/2 



(»65C 



Copyright, 1898, by 
LUTHER TRACY TOWNSEND. 



FiyOCOPiW RECEIVED. 




WILMAMS & \VIL?riN«5 LUKTI^tCnV PRESS, 
BALTIMORE. 



.( n CD 



MANIFEST DESTINY" 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 

Mr. President and Members of the 
Boston Patriotic Association : 

"Manifest Destiny'' is a phrase capa- 
ble of quite diverse meaning. But in 
our country at the present time is con- 
siderably restricted in its application. 
The magnitude of the subject now sug- 
gested by these words, and the interest 
awakened by them is such, however, that 
we shall be justified in employing while 
discussing the questions involved, the 
method of gradual approach, and we be- 
gin, therefore, at seemingly a distant 
point from the heart of our theme when 
calling attention the fact that never be- 
fore in the history of our country have 
the thoughts of the people been so much 
on the islands of the sea as during the 
past few months. 

Islands, as strategic points in com- 
merce; their importance as supply and 



4 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

coaling stations for merchant ships and 
war vessels ; in many instances their mild 
and superb climate making of them at- 
tractive health resorts in mid-winter ; the 
beauty of their scenery and their remark- 
able floral and vegetable productiveness 
'furnishing inviting fields for the tourist 
and naturalist, and the peculiar advan- 
tages they afford for ' missionary work 
have engaged for a long time the atten- 
tion of certain specially interested j)er- 
sons, but to-day the interest is so wide- 
spread that everybody is alert, thinking 
and talking about the islands of the sea — 
the educated, the illiterate, persons in all 
professions and in all vocations, and our 
children even, are studying the maps of 
the world not as a school task any longer, 
but as a matter of downright delight. 
y\nd for all this, as }()U need not be told, 
there is abundant reason. As a people 
we have been brought as never before 
into close relations with some of the most 
important islands of the sea. We are 
l)lacing our protectorate not only over 
those that are near, but over some that 
are remote. Growing out of this new 
order of things, there is not only an in- 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 5 

creasing interest but great diversity of 
opinion and plenty of discussion every- 
where. 

And it is obvious from what we hear 
that while the outlook, to some of our 
people is exceedingly hopeful and inspir- 
ing, to others it is equally alarming and 
depressing. 

Now, in view of this condition of 
things, let us for a few moments look at 
the facts as they are, and ascertain if pos- 
sible what would better be done. 

Expansion of territory, as every one 
knows, has been thought to be for our 
RepubHc a suicidal policy; but whether 
this is the case or not, expansion of ter- 
ritory even beyond the natural water 
boundaries of our country, already has 
begun. 

The Hawaiian Islands without the 
shedding of a drop of blood, or involving 
our country .in any troublesome interna- 
tional complications whatever, have been 
placed in our hands and under our pro- 
tection. We also have to-day commis- 
sioners in Cuba and Porto Rico arrang- 
ing the time and conditions of Spanish 
evacuation, by which the larger of these 



6 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

two islands, for a time at least, must come 
under our protectorate and Porto Rico 
into our permanent possession. 

In Paris, too, American Commission- 
ers are in session to conclude peace with 
Spain, and in the name of the United 
States to take possession of some part, 
if not of the whole vast group, of the 
Philippine Islands. 

Many conservative men, a little time 
since, from one cause or another, stood 
aghast in the presence of these new un- 
foldings, and iiiipcrialisni, almost a new 
word on American lips, was put into cir- 
culation to express a peril that is 
thought to be so full of mischief that it 
will plunge our country ultimately in 
national overthrow and ruin. But this 
word already is becoming familiar and 
no longer startles our people when using 
it, and meanwhile the sentiment is grow- 
ing very rapidly that imperialism is not 
such a dreadful thing after all, and that, 
if it means the spread of American power, 
free institutions, and human happiness, 
it need not in the least excite our alarm, 
provided there is any sterling vitality 
left in the American Republic; and of 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 7 

this fact, since our war with Spain, few 
people are in doubt. 

In a word this nation of ours in spite 
of itself is coming into new realms of 
purpose and opportunity; whether that 
purpose is right or wrong, and whether 
the opportunity shall make for righteous- 
ness or unrighteousness, safety or dan- 
ger, we cannot tell just yet, though every 
one is hoping for the best; and if the 
best shall fail to be the outcome, the 
fault is not God's but ours. 

And it is perfectly obvious, too, that 
this tide of affairs that is now sweeping 
on, lifting men ofif their feet and landing 
them at a distance from where they were 
determined three or six months ago to 
take their stand, has got beyond the con- 
trol of the Administration and of Con- 
gress ; that is, if they should attempt to 
arrest it. Some of the most cautious 
and conservative men among us are be- 
ginning to realize that we are so much 
involved that if, for instance, our Gov- 
ernment should now abandon Cuba, leav- 
ing it to itself, with the probable conflicts 
between the liberal and the clerical par- 
ties, like those that keep some of the 



« "MANIFEST DESTInT" FROM 

South American republics in a perpetual 
turmoil, we should be condemned in the 
eyes of the world ; nor is it any way clear 
as yet what the future may resolutel> 
demand of the United States as to the 
final disposition of that island. 

And likewise it is beginning to dawn 
upon all thinking people, that if we 
should sail away from the Philippine 
Islands, as not a few leading men, three 
months ago, were urging should be done, 
leaving the entire archipelago in the 
hands of the insurgents, or a prey to any 
foreign government that might pounce 
upon them, we should be guilty of a 
great wrong; and probably there is not 
a disinterested civilized nation on earth 
that would not pronounce such deser- 
tion, in such times as these, unchristian, 
if not inhuman. The judgment has been 
forcefully expressed by one writer on this 
subject, that "a nation which would give 
back the Philippines to Spain would hand 
back to a tiger the little lamb wrested 
from its jaws." 

We may say the present condition of 
things is all wrong. We may blame the 
so-called jingoes and the ambitious, rest- 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 9 

less and selfish politicians, but that does 
not help matters. Here we are involved^ 
with no reputable way open to us of 
shifting these responsibilities to the 
shoulders of some one else. The fact is 
that an honorable escape from our obli- 
gations, however disagreeable they may 
be, is now an impossibility. All talk of 
our mistakes is, therefore, at the present 
juncture, irrelevant. 

Now% therefore, the all-important ques- 
tion that is forced home upon this Chris- 
tian nation of ours is this : \\' hat ought 
to be done, and how can you and I as in- 
dividual Christians direct or have any 
influence in this whirlpool of national 
afifairs? 

But before attempting to answer 
these questions it may be wise for us to 
take under consideration certain matters 
that have an important bearing upon the 
general subject before us. And the first 
fact in this connection to which we call 
attention is, that the islands of the sea 
have figured quite largely in God's plans 
for the world's redemption. The Sa- 
cred Scriptures repeat again and again 
the thought that the islands of the sea. 



10 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

even those that are far off, are his; that 
the people dwelHng there, even the hea- 
then, shall worship him and utter his 
praise. The Psalmist sang his hymns 
and Jewish people repeated them, saying 
that the islands shall bring presents and 
shall rejoice with gladness in the great- 
ness and majesty of God's Kingdom.^ 

The earlier and the later Old Testa- 
ment prophets while speaking of the 
^lessiah's reign, likewise were careful to 
include the islands of the sea. Isaiah, 
who is especially recognized as the pro- 
phet of that Kingdom, more than a half- 
score times, mentions the isles and 
islands of the sea. They are in his fore- 
cast of the future to glorify God; they 
are to declare his praise ; they are to wait 
upon God and await his coming, and in 
the ingathering of his people, the islands 
are never forgotten." 

Nor were the islands overlooked in the 
New Testament dispensation. No sooner 
had Paul, who was pre-eminently the 
missionary among the apostles, received 
his ordination at Antioch, than his face 

' Ps. Ixii. lo; xcvii. i. 

-Is. xi. ii; XX. 6; xxiv. 15: xli.i; xlii.4, 12; xlix. i; 
li. 5; Ix. 9; Ixvi. 19. 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 11 

was turned to one of the islands of the 
INIediterranean. He and his compan- 
ions went directly to Seleucia, which was 
the nearest seaport town to iVntioch and 
from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And 
the record goes on to say that when they 
reached Salamis, which was on the east 
coast of the island, they preached there 
the Word of God and then went through 
its entire length to Paphos, on the west 
coast, preaching as they went the won- 
derful things of the gospel of Christ. 

Crete, Rhodes, Sicily and Melita were 
other islands visited by Paul in which he 
carried on his missionary work. 

Such, therefore, seems to have been 
God's care and provisions during the Old 
Testament dispensation and also at the 
dawn of the Christian era, for the islands 
of the sea. And from those early times 
to the present the Holy Spirit has moved 
upon the hearts of God's children to care 
for these Hmited territories that are scat- 
tered among the encircling waters of the 
oceans, not merely because they are 
islands, but for other reasons that will 
be apparent upon a moment's reflection. 

Islands are easily reached and some of 



12 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

them constitute the cross roads or cen- 
ters where the commerce of one part of 
the world meets that of another. 

In the apostles' time and earlier, Cy- 
prus, Rhodes, Crete and Sicily were com- 
mercial stations for the shipping from 
Africa, Asia Minor and Southern Eu- 
rope. 

The Hawaiian Islands have constituted 
for a half-century an important station 
between the Pacific coast of the United 
States and all Asiatic ports. Cuba, vir- 
tually the key of the Gulf of Mexico, to- 
gether with the other West India Is- 
lands, afford stations and ports of in- 
estimable value to the traffic of the east 
Atlantic Ocean. And the Philippine 
Islands are in the road-way of travel be- 
tween Australia and other islands on the 
south, and Asia on the north and west. 
And there can be no question that these 
islands, Hawaii, Cuba, Porto Rico, and 
the Philippines, which are now of absorb- 
ing interest in the thought of the Ameri- 
can people, are destined to become more 
and more centers of traffic, points of con- 
tact, winter resorts, coaling and naval 
stations of increasing importance during 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 13 

the progress of an ever-expanding civili- 
zation and during the inevitable and uni- 
versal spread of the Christian religion. 

These are facts that no reasonable man 
would think of denying. But we repeat, 
whether we are able, and shall be dis- 
posed to make the best possible use of 
our opportunities and privileges in the 
disposition of these islands are with many 
persons serious questions, and the con- 
viction is increasing that almost every- 
thing depends upon what the dominant 
purpose may be in our taking" posses- 
sion of them. But their intrinsic value 
and importance are* not in the least 
afifected by our relation to them, except 
to increase their value. Cuba, with much 
of its natural wealth untouched, and 
Porto Rico, thought by some tourists to 
be the gem of all the West Indies, are 
looked upon by every nation on earth, 
unless we except our own, as possessions 
of inestimable value. 

But while these islands of the West 
India group merit even more than has 
yet been said in their favor, still, in some 
respects they have no such future as 
either Hawaii or the Philippine Islands. 



14 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

William H. Seward, one of the most far- 
sighted statesmen this country ever pro- 
duced, after his journey round the world, 
wrote that " the Pacific Ocean, its shores, 
its islands and the vast regions beyond, 
will become the chief theater of events 
in the world's great hereafter." And 
never has this prediction seemed so full 
of significance or so near fulfilment as 
it does to-day. 

But confining our attention more es- 
pecially to the religious phases of our 
subject, let us consider what already has 
been done by missionary enterprise in 
some of these island territories. 

Look for a moment to the Hawaiian 
group, ten in number, having as perfect 
a climate as this world affords, with lofty 
mountains, rich mineral resources, a pro- 
ductive soil, and now adorned with a 
high type of Christian civilization. 

Ages ago essentially the same people 
discovered and took possession of those 
islands that found their way to others in 
the Pacific Ocean. 

There is now scarcely any ground for 
doubting that for the larger part they 
came from the Malay Peninsula five hun- 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 15 

dred or more years before Christ. As a 
people they were bad and everything 
connected with their rehgion was hcen- 
tious, vile, oppressive and cruel. The 
sacrifice of human victims and the mur- 
der of infants were prevailing practices. 
Before Christianity reached those islands 
it is estimated that at least one-third of 
all the children born there were put to 
death simply to get rid of them. One 
woman after her conversion, confessed 
to the missionaries that she had buried 
alive thirteen 'of her children. 

To these barbarous people first came 
the discoverers, Spanish and English. 
The Spaniards Were essentially of the 
same class as those who with Cortes de- 
vastated Mexico, and those who with 
Pizarro did their murderous work in 
Peru. 

Then came traders, for the larger part 
venturesome and unscrupulous men who 
more than anything else gave the people 
fresh lessons in licentiousness, treachery 
and criielty, making of the Hawaiians a 
nation of debased drunkards. Those 
discoverers and traders also introduced 
new diseases and vices that caused such 



IG '-MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

a fearful niorlality among the natives 
that at one time it came near bringing 
on an extinction of the entire popula- 
tion, affording additional evidence of 
what has been seen over and over again, 
that it is a positive calamity for a hea- 
then country to come in contact with 
that type of modern civilization which is 
destitute of a pure Christianity. 

Now^ notice, it was less than a century 
ago that American protestant mission- 
aries began their labors among that un- 
fortunate and vice-cursed people. 

It w^as a difficult and unpromising task 
that confronted those pioneer mission- 
aries ; all the more so because those Ha- 
waiians had added the vices, diseases and 
crimes of modern civilization to their 
own ancient and barbarous idolatry. 

But with less delay than was expected 
those protestant missionaries w^ere suc- 
cessful and wrought w'onderful transfor- 
mations. Think of it for a moment. It 
was only seventy years ago that those 
Hawaiian Islands were peopled with a 
race of vicious and naked Malay sav- 
ages. But to-day there is no heathen 
idolatrv on the islands. The natives have 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 17 

ceased their inhuman practices ; they 
have become honest, law-abiding citi- 
zens, whose national motto is one that 
would do credit to any people on earth : 
''The life of the country is righteousness.'' 

Those natives are now living in flour- 
ishing, civilized communities, like those 
in our own country. The Hawaiians, in- 
cluding both natives and other residents, 
not only have magnificent church edi- 
fices, and support generously rehgious 
work at home, but with marked success 
are carrying on foreign missions. There 
are no pOor-houses in the islands and no 
need of any. Ample school privileges 
are provided, all children being taught 
the English language. 

In the latest report of the Inspector- 
General of Schools of Hawaii we find the 
following statements : 

"The compulsory education law re- 
quires that all children between the ages 
of six and fifteen shall attend school dur- 
ing the entire school year (ten months). 
. . . Of 5467 children of pure Ha- 
waiian blood within school age, 98.39 
per cent, attend school. Of 2437 of part 
Hawaiian blood, 99.01 per cent, attend 



18 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

school. Of 26,495 people of pure Ha- 
waiian blood over six years of age, 83.97 
per cent, are able to read and write. Of 
5895 people of part Hawaiian blood over 
six years of age, 91.21 per cent, are able 
to read and write." 

The part of the report now before us 
closes with this statement: 'Tt is as 
rare an occurrence to find an illiterate 
adult Hawaiian in Hawaii as it is to find 
an illiterate adult American in the most 
favored state in the Union." 

The report of criminality in the islands 
is no less remarkable. The number of 
convicts in prison is only one-third of 
one per cent, of the entire population, 
and the greater part of these are Asiatics 
and Portuguese. This religious, educa- 
tional and social condition, we repeat, 
has been brought about in less than a 
century. And what particularly inter- 
ests us is this fact, that the natives of 
those islands are essentially of the same 
stock as the Malays who inhabit the 
Philippines, and judging from that fact, 
and also from the marked ability shown 
by some of those natives w^ho have been 
educated abroad and who have been 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 19 

leaders in the revolt against Spain, we 
may feel confident that if the native 
Filippinos were placed under a protest- 
ant protectorate and were brought under 
protestant Christian influences, there 
would be results similar to those achieved 
in the Hawaiian Islands. Indeed why 
should we not confidently expect that 
similar influences will produce similar re- 
sults among essentially the same people? 
But that our conclusions may not lack 
the support of ample evidence, let us for 
a moment look southwest of Hawaii to a 
group of two hundred and fifty islands 
bearing the name Fiji. This name Fiji, 
as you know, is a synonym for whatever 
is inhuman, vicious and cannibahstic. The 
early missionaries tell us that the scenes 
they witnessed there were too horrible 
and fiendish to describe. Two-thirds of 
the children born were put to death, usu- 
ally by strangling and burying alive. 
Sick people and the over-aged were also 
buried before they were dead, and widows 
were choked to death. Enemies taken 
in battle and shipwrecked sailors were 
killed and eaten by those Fijians. Bar- 
barity, the most cruel and inhuman, was 



20 "MAXIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

witnessed everywhere on those islands. 

It was a Httle over sixty years ago that 
Christian missions were estabhshed 
there. In 1874 the islands fortunately 
were ceded to England, and under her 
protection and under the influence of 
protestant Christian, missions, they are 
to-day one of England's best governed 
colonial possessions. Cannibalism, in- 
fanticide, the strangling of widows and 
aged people and other unrivaled forms 
of baseness and cruelty are unknown. 
What marvelous transformations ! In 
1835 there was not a Christian in the Fiji 
Islands ; to-day there is not an avowed 
heathen. 

A careful survey of the religious work- 
there has been made, showing that out 
of a population of one hundred and 
twenty thousand, more than one hun- 
dred thousand are professing Christians. 
There are now employed on the islands 
not more than ten white missionaries, 
while there are upwards of three thous- 
and native ordained preachers and nearly 
as many more natives who are regularly 
employed as religious workers, such as 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 21 

local preachers, colporters and evange- 
lists. 

Last year the Fiji Christians con- 
tributed twenty-five thousand dollars to 
Foreign Missions, while some of the sons 
and daughters of those former cannibals 
are to-day doing missionary work in 
lands that lie beyond the borders of their 
own islands. 

But still further to strengthen certain 
conclusions we hope to reach, you will 
pardon us for cahing attention to 
another group bearing the name of Her- 
vey Islands. They, too, have an inter- 
esting, almost romantic, history. They 
are beautiful islands, one of their num- 
ber on account of the picturesqueness 
and magnificence of its mountain peaks 
and the rich productiveness of its valleys, 
is called the "Queen of the South Seas." 

The natives of those islands originally 
were utterly depraved, given over to 
cannibalism and savage warfare in which 
more than once the entire population was 
nearly exterminated. 

In 1823 the Rev. John Williams visit- 
ed this Hervey group and began his 
work. In 1889, by invitation of the 



23 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

chiefs and people, a British Protectorate 
was proclaimed, and those islanders un- 
der English guardianship and under the 
influences of protestant Christian civiU- 
zation, soon abandoned their heathen 
idolatry. They are now engaged in all 
the enterprises and industries of modern 
civilization. They are building ships of 
a one-hundred-tons measurement. They 
have an excellent public school system, 
support their own churches, and one of 
the islands of the group, alone, is con- 
tributing from fifteen to twenty thousand 
dollars yearly in support of general mis- 
sionary expenses. 

And will you please keep this fact in 
mind that all these changes from extreme 
savagism to a high type of Christian civi- 
lization have been brought about since 
1823. 

Of scarcely less interest is the 
history of the Samoan Islands, now 
under a sort of a threefold, protestant 
protectorate, — that of England, Germany 
and the United States. Those islands 
received their first missionaries in 1830, 
and now the whole population is nomi- 
nallv Christian, and on the most impor- 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 23 

tant island of the group there are said to 
be no more than fifty homes in which is 
not regularly observed family worship. 

Essentially the same, too, may be said 
of the group of islands bearing the name 
New Hebrides. In one of their churches 
is found an interesting and suggestive 
tablet which reads thus : "When he 
(Dr. John Geddie) landed in 1848 there 
were no Christians here ; when he left in 
1872 there were no heathen." 

But the hour prevents us from going- 
further into particulars. We therefore 
in a more general way call attention to 
the following facts that Micronesia, 
which, as a geographical terni, includes 
several groups of islands lying east of 
the Philippines, witnessed its first Chris- 
tian baptism only a little over a quarter 
of a century ago ; now there are forty- 
seven self-supporting churches and more 
than five thousand church members in 
those islands. 

Seventy-five years ago there was not 
a Christian convert in all Polynesia, 
wdiich includes several island groups ly- 
ing southeast of the Philippines ; now the 
converts there number more than one 



24 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

hundred thousand and the adherents to 
the Christian faith are not fewer than 
half a miUion. 

At the birth of Pomare, the South Sea 
Island king, the first Christian mission- 
sionaries were just making a landing in 
his dominions ; at his death three hun- 
dred of the islands had been Christian- 
ized. 

Quite recently a company of one hun- 
dred and sixty native young men and 
women sailed from Tahiti as missionaries 
to other islands of the South Pacific. 
And on the authority of a recent publi- 
cation by the American Board, it is 
said that "of all these native workers, 
not one has ever proved recreant to the 
faith. Yet these are the cannibals of less 
than a century ago, who had no idea of 
any God, save that of some strange, 
tyrannical despot."^ 

Now, what especially should be borne 
in mind is this, that those Hawaiian bar- 
barians, those Fiji cannibals, those bru- 
tal savages of the Hervey and Samoan 
Islands and of these others referred to, in 
some instances are of precisely the same 

^ " Facts that Tell," by American Board. 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 25 

origin as the Filippinos, and in other in- 
stances they are of essentially the same 
origin. The family name given to them 
all is Malayo-Polynesian, and with a 
measure of precision they can be traced 
back to a Mongolian-Negrito origin. 
Owing to their seafaring propensity they 
have been called "Sea Gipsies" and "No- 
mads of the Sea ;" and though there may 
be some disputes among ethnologists on 
these matters, still there can be no ques- 
tion that the natives of those Pacific ^- 
lands who have become civilized and 
christianized have the same general char- 
acteristics as those that distinguished the 
I\Iala_v-mixed population of those Pa- 
cific islands which God by his provi- 
dence is placing at our disposal. Why, 
therefore, is it not within the range of 
possibility for the United States and pro- 
testant Christianity to do for those 
FiHppinos what has been done for the 
natives of these other islands of the sea? 
We know the comparison we are 
about to make is faulty in many particu- 
lars, and without that expressed under- 
standing we hardly should be justified 
in making use of it, but we are sure, 



•J() 



MAXIFF.ST DESTIMY" FROM 



jiul!;"ini;' ivoiu wli.it wo know, lliat it is 
not likely to require so loni;- a time to 
redeem those l^^ilijij^inos as it did to make 
reputable duistians oui of oiu" .\ni;lo- 
Saxon aneestrv, for tliat retjuired a 
tliousantl years. 

And at this i^Miit let it be distinetly 
understood that these islands of whieh 
we arc speaking-, and we add Australia, 
now a i^reat ee>nuuereial oiMunu^nwealth, 
with a federal constitution rccoi^nizini;- 
God in its preamble, but which as late 
as 184Q was "a den of thieves." and New 
Zealand with its dark history, but now 
enjovini;- all the benefits (^f enlightened 
and well ordered conuuunities. and Java. 
one of the best cj^overned island colonics 
in the world, and others that could be 
named, have been lifted from savaqery 
and tuiscrv into a benign civilizatic^n. 
whose type in some instances is as high 
as that of the United States of America, 
not in e(^nse(|uence of their natural re- 
sources, their commercial advantages, 
nor by reason of any of the influences of 
a Christless civilization, but by reason of 
j-trotcstant Christianity, introduced into 
those islands by protestant missionaries, 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 27 

under the protection of protestant na- 
tions. Of these facts there can be no 
question. They are vouched for by trav- 
elers, by scientists, by scholars, by men 
in official positions, by such men as Sir 
Richard Temple, Professor Sedgwick, 
Gladstone, Stanley, Charles Darwin and 
Richard H. Dana, who made a very care- 
ful tour of inspection, and his report is 
an uncompromising vindication of Chris- 
tian missions and an ovenvhelming an- 
swer to the many falsehoods that have 
been circulated by infidel writers and 
Roman Catholic ecclesiastics as to the 
benign work done by protestant mis- 
sionaries. 

Now for a distinct purpose we must 
take an additional step and call attention 
to another phase of this subject which in 
these times of almost a new national 
awakening, is of vital importance. 

We may preface what is to be said at 
this point with the remark that while we 
should not withhold our admiration and 
praise for the zeal, the suffering, the self- 
sacrifice, and in some instances the mar- 
tyrdom of Roman Catholic missionaries in 
their work in China, in Japan, and among 



28 ''MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

the North American Indians, as well as 
on the islands of the sea, yet in the inter- 
ests of truth we are forced to say that 
Roman Catholic priests and members of 
the various monastic orders of that 
church have in almost every instance 
been more zealous in their efforts to 
overthrow protestant missions, than they 
have to gain conquests over the idolatry 
of the heathen. No one can read the 
history of the New Hebrides, of the 
Loyalty Islands, of New Zealand, and 
the Carolines, and reach any other con- 
clusion. 

Roman Catholic priests have followed 
our missionaries like evil spirits. Some 
of those monastic orders at their initia- 
tion solemnly swear that they will do 
everything in their power to root up and 
banish from the face of the earth protes- 
tant Christianity. "Stern coercion in 
curing obstinate protestants" wherever 
force can be employed has been and still 
is held by Catholics to be the privilege 
and duty of the Papal Church. 

We presume it is no news to you that 
when Roman Catholic countries, if pro- 
nounced in their allegiance to the Pope, 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 29 

gain full control of any territory, they 
aid the priesthood in preventing, as far as 
they can, all distinctively protestant mis- 
sionary work, though the people have 
been made happy and prosperous by it, 
and though it' has been going on for a 
quarter or a half century. 

Take, by way of illustration, the So- 
ciety Islands, named for the Royal So- 
ciety of London. As on other islands, 
immorahty, polygamy and infanticide 
prevailed to an incredible extenj:. It is, 
estimated, from the reports of early mis- 
sionaries, that two-thirds of all the chil- 
dren were put to death soon after birth. 
One chief confessed to the missionaries 
that he had nineteen children, and mur- 
dered them all. 

After visiting these islands Captain 
Cook said : "There is a scale of dissodute 
sensuality on which these people have 
descended wholly unknown to any other 
nation I have visited, which no imagina- 
tion could possibly conceive." 

Dr. WiUiam Ellis remarked that "No 
portion of the human race was ever, per- 
haps, sunk lower in brutal licentiousness 



30 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

and moral degradation than this isolated 
people." 

Beginning early in the present cen- 
tury, after several years of adversity, an 
interesting and remarkable Christian 
work was in progress. The natives re- 
nounced their idols, ceased their brutal 
practices and accepted the gospel of 
Christ. Captain Harvey, in_,i839, writ- 
ing of one of the largest of these islands, 
says: "This is the most civilized place I 
have seen in the South Seas. They have 
an excellent code of laws and liquors are 
not allow^ed to be landed at any port on 
the island." He tells us that on Sunday 
he saw five thousand people attending 
the principal place of worship, the Queen 
sitting near the pulpit, her subjects about 
her all decently appareled, devoutly 
worshipping the God who is the Creator 
of us all. This was in 1839. But in 1842, 
Roman Catholic France played a game 
of usurpation. Her priests appeared 
upon the scene ; good laws were abol- 
ished and a reign of intemperance, lust, 
ignorance and superstition was the 
lamentable result. The French govern- 
ment officials and the Roman Catholic 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 31 

priesthood combined in a protracted 
effort to undo the work of the protestant 
missionaries. But it should be said to 
the praise of many of the natives, that 
though persecuted they continued to 
cling to their protestant faith and wor- 
ship, otherwise the mass of the popula- 
tion would have lapsed into a condition 
almost as hopeless as that from which 
they had been redeemed. 

The same essentially may be said of 
the Marquesas Islands, which just at a 
time when protestant missions were 
'promising to be eminently successful 
were taken possession of by the French 
soldiers. Protestant missions were de- 
stroyed by papal priests and government 
intrigue ; as a result ignorance, super- 
stition, intemperance and tyranny were 
engrafted upon the people. 

Such is the repeated story of the cen- 
turies ; for wherever a powerful Roman 
Catholic country takes possession of any 
territory, she demands as far as possible 
the exclusion of all religions except the 
Roman Catholic. It is also well known 
that of all Catholic countries, Spain has 
been the most loyal to the Papal Church 



32 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

and at the same time the most cruel and 
tyrannical in her rule over the people. 
Seemingly the purpose of Spain has been 
to get every advantage possible from her 
colonial possessions and in return to con- 
tribute as little as possible to their wel- 
fare. Her civil officers and her Roman 
Catholic priests have been guilty of an 
extortion that is little different from rob- 
bery and a cruelty that is utterly heart- 
less, keeping the mass of the people in 
deplorable ignorance, poverty, and deg- 
radation. Spanish priests, taking ad- 
vantage of the civil authority and power 
of Spain, have wrecked protestant mis- 
sions simply because they were protest- 
ant ; have expelled and massacred pro- 
testant missionaries as if this were their 
religious privilege and duty. 

Take, for illustration, the history of 
the Caroline Islands. The first Chris- 
tian missions established there were by 
the American Board, September lo, 
1852, before Spain had a foothold in the 
islands. 

The work of those missionaries was 
eminently successful. The natives, a 
Malay-mixed people, like the Filippinos, 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 33 

became civilized and many of them 
Christianized. Thirty of the islands, 
under native chiefs, at length enjoyed a 
civil administration which would com- 
pare favorably with that of most of the 
civilized countries of the world. 

As early as 1861 churches were formed 
at Ron Kiti and Shalong Point, on the 
island of Ponape. In 1889, there were 
forty-seven churches, with a membership 
of 4509; there were seventy-six native 
pastors and teachers, four training 
schools, three seminaries for girls, forty- 
three common schools having in all 
nearly 3000 scholars. 

In 1887, Mr. Doane, writing of Po- 
nape, says : ''The outlook, on the whole, 
is cheering. In some places the people 
had long clung to darkness, but now the 
rulers have become Christians, and the 
people have followed their example. 

The making of and deahng in intoxi- 
cating drinks have ceased, also the prepa- 
ration of the narcotic joko root; polyg- 
amy and Sabbath-breaking are now un- 
known among the natives." 

The annual report of that year says 
that there is *'a deep and pervasive re- 



34 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

vival influence among all the tribes, so 
that the entire population seemed on the 
point of yielding to Christ." And we 
shofild bear in mind that all this civil, 
educational and religious improvement 
was accomplished in a period of thirty- 
five years. 

Now note what follows. Two years 
after the settlement of certain disputes 
between Germany and Spain, the Span- 
iards were allowed to take possession of 
those islands ; this was in 1887. The re- 
morseless tyranny of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church speedily showed itself. The 
guns of Spanish warships were turned 
upon those peaceful Protestant places cf 
worship. The native churches were 
burned; the missionary ship the ''Alom- 
ing Star," was forbidden to enter their 
ports, and Christian preachers and teach- 
ers were driven from the islands and all 
intercourse with the natives prohibited. 

The details of this story of Spain's du- 
plicity and of Roman Catholic persecu- 
tion and downright cruelty in the Caro- 
line Islands, are too many and distress- 
ing to emmierate in this address, but 
enough has been said to illustrate the 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 35 

point we are making, and also these 
facts presented would justify the United 
States in placing those islands, as wed as 
Cuba and the Phihppines, under a pro- 
tectorate until the American Board, 
whose claim long since has been filed in 
Washington, is fully reimbursed for all 
its losses and until reparation is secured 
for the inhuman treatment inflicted upon 
American citizens. 

. Nor should that protectorate be re- 
moved until reUgious freedom i_^ forever 
guaranteed by Spain to the people of 
those islands. 

But at this point some one may ask 
if CathoUc Spain has done no redeeming 
work among her colonial possessions? 
Yes, we are free to confess that she has 
improved in some respects the condition 
of her conquered territories. She has 
established schools, some of them of high 
order, but never for the education of the 
masses of her people. She has builded 
in her colonies (not with her own money 
but with that filched from her poor peo- 
ple,) churches and cathedrals ; she has 
placed before her conquered subjects 
works of religious art and adornment. 



36 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

in some instances of very high order ; she 
has put a stop to some cruel practices, 
but for all that, the history of Catholic 
Spain is written all over with intolerance, 
plunder and murder. The whole ten- 
dency of her work, wherever she has 
gone with her priesthood, is to bring on 
another era of the dark ages. That she has 
not done this in every instance and to the 
fullest extent is not to her credit but is 
to the credit of protestant Christian civ- 
ilization that has sent some rays of light 
to the people of her possessions who, in 
spite of her determined purpose and op- 
position, have succeeded measurably in 
improving their condition. 

The possessions of Spain that at the 
present time are of special interest to us 
are a case in point. Cuba is at our doors. 
You all know what misery the rule of 
CathoHc Spain has entailed upon that 
gem of an island which is to be in the fu- 
ture a winter Saratoga for our country ; 
and you know, too, what have been the 
efforts of those oppressed people to free 
themselves from civil and ecclesiastical 
bondage. And you also know that some 
of the protestant missionaries sent there 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 37 

have been killed, imprisoned and starved 
or expelled from the island. And all 
would have suffered this fate but for the 
protest and protection of other nations 
that Spain dared not disregard. And 
those of the native Cubans who have 
risen above the degradation of some of 
Spain's other possessions, have done so 
not because of anything that Spain or 
Romanism has done, but because those 
Cubans visited the United States, have 
been educated in our schools and have 
breathed the free atmosphere of our Re- 
public or in other ways have felt the pul- 
sations of liberty that are sent out from 
the mighty heart of our body politic. 

x\nd, too, on the island that is now 
ours, Porto Rico, the parish priests have 
opposed education, the mass of the peo- 
ple are in densest ignorance and, as is 
reported, there never had been held a 
protestant service for the natives until 
since the United States assumed con- 
trol. Likewise the history and present 
condition of the PhiHppine Islands are a 
story of oppression, sorrow and^wrong 
that we have not time fully to recount. 



38 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

We quote one or two authorities only, 
out of twenty that could be cited. Dr. 
Barclay, in a book recently published, 
entitled "Survey of Foreign Missions," 
says : "All the islands are priest-ridden. 
Before any news can be published in the 
newspapers, they must be submitted to 
the archbishop. No protestant service 
of any kind is permitted. All the best 
property belono^s to the church, ^^'hen 
some four or five years ago (1893) the 
Bible Society attempted to carry the 
light into one of the islands, the Bibles 
were confiscated and the Bible agent was 
put to death." 

Rev. F. De P. Castells, now of Guate- 
mala, claims to be the only protestant 
Christian living who has ever tried to 
preach in the Philippines. He was per- 
secuted, dragged to prison and compelled 
to leave the country. This was ten years 
ago, while Weyler was governor-gen- 
eral. 

Now these are the facts. Here were 
barriers that needed removing. A pure 
gospel could not enter those dependen- 
cies of Spain as freely as it could enter 
some of the most heathen of heathen 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 89 

countries. We are therefore amazed : 
what has been reported, namely, that a 
prominent Episcopal bishop has taken 
the position recently that "to send mis- 
sionaries to Spanish-American countries 
is not only unnecessary but wicked." 
Can it be possible that any protestant 
bishop, or those who are of the same 
mind, have not learned that the Chris- 
tian religion never has been taught by 
the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish- 
American countries ; that the constant 
effort of the papal priesthood there and 
wherever else it has had the power, is to 
teach not what God's Word says but 
what the Church decreeT? Or, what 
well informed man does not know that in 
papal countries the protestant Bible not 
only is prohibited but reviled ; that the 
worship of images scarcely less revolt- 
ing than those of pagan lands, not only 
is permitted but extolled ; that the Vir- 
gin Mary, as a mediator, not only is 
adored but given the place to which 
Christ alone is entitled; that to the pa- 
pacy is delegated not only infallible wis- 
dom but absolute power: that the fixed 
purpose of the Papal Church is not to 



40 ''MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

spread general intelligence among the 
mass of her people, but wherever pos- 
sible to keep them in ignorance, in super- 
stition, and in abject submission to the 
will of the parish priest, however tyran- 
nical he may be, and that religious lib- 
erty shall neither be enjoyed nor known. 

Says General Gomez, who has shown 
himself no less a Christian gentleman 
than Admiral Cervera, (and this Cervera 
as you know, is the only Spaniard among 
them all whose name is paraded before 
us by Spanish admirers until we are 
nigh sick and tired of it)— "The Cuban 
people above all else desire rehgious 
freedom. They have had practically no 
Church liberty in the past. Freedom of 
religious thought, the privilege of own- 
ing and reading the Bible, the right to 
erect or not erect churches, all this the 
Cubans want," and, we may add, they 
now can have. 

"Wicked" to send Christian mission- 
aries to these people! 

''Wicked," merciful heavens, what 
does the statement mean ! 

As it seems to us no where within the 
domains of either western or eastern 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 41 

civilization are there more favored ter- 
ritories for the swift and glorious plant- 
ing of a pure and elevating Christianity 
than in these possessions that now are 
at the disposal of the United States of 
America. The people there have re- 
nounced practically the Papal Church of 
which they are members. They are es- 
sentially and largely without religious 
teachers. They scarcely can be restrained 
from laying hands of violence upon all 
►Spanish priests, nuns, monks and friars 
among them. If these native Cubans 
and Filippinos were in control of their is- 
lands, one of the first measures they 
would adopt w^ould be the expulsion of 
every Spanish priest in their domains. 
Those natives are in a condition similar 
to that of the Mexicans when they threw 
of¥ the ecclesiastical yoke that had long 
oppressed and galled them and became a 
protesting if not a protestant people. 
They looked about for religious teach- 
ers. Wealthy New York Episcopalians 
sent to them Bishop Riley. Hundreds 
of the leading men and officials of Mex- 
ico City flocked to this Protestant 
Church and would have become its sup- 



42] "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

porters and members had not the bishop, 
most unfortunately for the cause of pro- 
testantism in that repubhc, proved him- 
self to be a man utterly debased, after- 
wards being expelled for his misdemean- 
ors from the Church that had sent him 
there. 

Now, taking all these facts into con- 
sideration, it looks from our point of 
view as if, under the providence of God, 
the year had come when the advance- 
ment of the Redeemer's Kingdom in 
Spanish colonies no longer could be re- 
tarded by Spain and Rome. How rap- 
idly events a few months ago transpired 
and took their place in order, as by di- 
vine assignment. War was declared' and 
victories followed that if recorded in an- 
cient sacred history would have been pro- 
nounced by modern skeptics as impossi- 
ble. 

Had the two victories, the one at Ma- 
nila, the other at Santiago, been recorded 
in the Book of Kings, higher critics 
would have pronounced them incredible ; 
it would have been said that there could 
have been at most but one such victory, 
and that the compilers of the Sacred 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 43 

text in their carelessness made a blunder. 

But here were the facts right under our 
eyes, and thoughtful men in Europe as 
well as in America began talking of mir- 
acles as the only solution and are now in- 
terpreting these events to mean that the 
United States of America have been se- 
lected or elected to give protestant 
.Christianity to those Spanish misruled 
peoples who have not been permitted to 
know what Christianity means, nor to 
partake of its benefits any more than if it 
had no existence in the world. 

We dare reiterate and say that Rom- 
anism in Spanish America and in the 
Philippine and other islands of the sea 
has not been Christian, and that this is 
one of the reasons why God has led, if 
he has not forced, the United States to 
open some of these territories to a free 
and pure gospel. 

But as you all know it is here that we 
are confronted with our favorite national 
policy already referred to, which is that 
we must not extend the blessings of our 
Government, except indirectly, to any 
foreign people on earth. Such is the 
logical outcome of the Monroe Doctrine. 



44 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

Though the ricliest and most beautiful 
islands of the sea were offered us for the 
taking, we must not touch them. 

Our bounds are forever fixed, beyond 
which we must not pass, whatever the 
call or provocation. 

But ivJio has set these bounds? Is it 
God who has said, thus far and no fur- 
ther? If he has not limited our terri- 
tory, would it not be well m these event- 
ful times for us to reconsider and recon- 
struct our favorite policy? 

Suppose, for instance, that England 
should elect, or be elected to put an end 
to the strifes between the clerical and 
liberal parties in some one or more of 
the American republics, and suppose it 
were her purpose to establish there peace- 
ful Christian protestant governments, 
may we not very well doubt whether the 
United States would have any ethical 
right to prevent it? Should not the 
United States rather aid than hinder 
such a mission? 

On moral and religious grounds we 
therefore would better say : O Eng- 
land ! stand with us and we will stand 
with vou in an efifort to rule this world 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 4o 

— every part of it, in the interests of 
Christ's Kingdom ! 

In the presence of such a purpose 
how very narrow and puerile seem the 
later interpretations of the Monroe Doc- 
trine. 

If there is a foreordained destiny and 
evolution for nations, and if the United 
States are to be the exponent of the pur- 
est type of Christian liberty on earth, 
then must not our Republic be ready to 
doff the garments of its childhood and 
don those of a growing and vigorous 
manhood? 

European, as well as some of our own 
statesmen, have foreseen this promise of 
our coming greatness and have rejoiced 
in it. Mr. Seward felt it wdien he urged 
our country to "have the courage of its 
destiny." 

John Bright, ever our loyal friend in 
the Civil War, said once in the House of 
Commons, that if the war against the 
Union failed and the United States re- 
mained united, in forty years not a gun 
could be fired without our assent. 

Forty years have not yet passed over 
our Republic since this prediction was 



46 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

spoken, but we now seem nearing rap- 
idly the dawn of a new day when any na- 
tion on earth will hesitate to fire a gun 
should the United States present a deter- 
mined protest. 

One of England's leading journals has 
recently expressed a growing sentiment 
that "Americans no longer can go on 
living for themselves." 

William E. Gladstone, on the eve of 
departing this life, predicted that 
''America will one day become what 
England is to-day, the head steward of 
the great household of the world, be- 
cause her service will be the best and 
ablest." 

Therefore let what was said of Eng- 
land by Tennyson also be said of the 
United States : 



'And statesmen at her council met, 
Who knew the season, when to take 
Occasion by the hand, and make 

The bounds of freedom wider yet." 



And on this and on other great and 
grave questions still pending, God, if we 
mistake not, is creating public opinion 
faster than we dream, and is making it 
appear that our statesmanship in the 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 47 

past, broad as it has been, is not suffi- 
ciently broad nor sufficiently generous, 
and that it is not altogether in harmony 
with New Testament ethics and hence 
should be changed to conform to those 
ethics. 

Our Lord more than once illustrated 
and emphasized the grand underlying- 
principle of the Christian faith that God's 
people must look beyond the limitations 
of their own households, even at personal 
inconvenience, and must care for their 
neighbors as well as for themselves, and 
that our neighbors are those who need 
our help, and that our nearest neighbors 
are those who need it most, though they 
live on the other side of the globe. The 
ambitions of Christianity are merciful, 
but admit of no limitations. 

And still we need not be surprised at 
the opposition usually offered when any 
advance beyond traditional policies and 
views is proposed. The spirit that 
prompts such opposition has been with 
us from the beginning. 

It was unquestionably an onward and 
providential movement when on these 
shores our Puritan fathers sought and 



48 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

obtained religious liberty. But there 
were those who ridiculed the attempt as 
needless and fanatical. 

That, too, was an onward and provi- 
dential movement when our Revolution- 
ary fathers fought and secured civil lib- 
erty and bequeathed it to their children. 
But there were many of the colonists who 
deprecated the resort to armed resist- 
ance and called the leaders madmen. 

They were likewise onward and provi- 
dential movements when our Govern- 
ment extended its territory beyond New 
York and Virginia to the Mississippi 
River ; then later to the eastern slopes of 
the Rocky Mountains, and later still over 
their summits to the golden shores of the 
Pacific Ocean, and from the two Port- 
lands to Mexico and the great Gulf. 

But each of these extensions of terri- 
tory and the later acquisition of Alaska 
were resolutely opposed not only by men 
of moderate ability but by some who held 
high positions in the Federal Govern- 
ment. Mr. Webster, Henry Clay and 
President Van Buren fought strenuously 
against the accession of Texas, on the 
ground that it might involve our country 
in perpetual warfare with Mexico. 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 49 

Some of our ablest Congressmen and 
writers on political economy opposed 
the accession of California and Oregon, 
chiefly because of their distance and 
worthlessness. 

Mr. Seward and Charles Sumner 
found it exceedingly difficult to stem the 
tide of opposition and ridicule that con- 
fronted their eftorts to secure the acces- 
sion of Alaska. But every one now sees 
that if the counsels of these opposers of 
territorial expansion had prevailed, a 
serious blunder would have been made. 

Could it, therefore, be expected that 
our dealings with Spain, whatever they 
might be, would move on unchallenged 
and uncondemned? 

But criticism of this sort should not 
for a moment deter us. What our na- 
tion has been doing is not merely the 
carrying on of a war with Spain. We 
have been engaged rather in enterprises 
without fully realizing it, that are making 
for the civil and religious emancipation 
of the whole world. 

It is possible, too, that we are engaged 
in the oncoming struggle between pagan 
civilization of the East and Christian civi- 



50 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

lization of the \\'esl? As Captain Mahan 
has forcefully said : "We stand at the 
opening of a period when the question i^ 
to be settled decisively, though the issue 
may be long delayed, whether Eastern 
or Western civilization is to dominate 
throughout the earth and to control the 
future. The great task now before the 
world of civilized Christianity and its 
great mission, which it must fulfil or per- 
ish, are to receive into its own bosom 
and raise to its own ideals those ancient 
and different civilizations by which it is 
surrounded and outnumbered." 

O ve people who think ! does it not 
seem to you in odd moments that the 
hour which is now striking is one of the 
most eventful in our eventful history, 
and perhaps, in the history of the world? 

Does it not look now and then as 
though God's providences are beckoning 
our country to take upon herself larger 
opportunities and philanthropies than 
ever before have entered into her con- 
ception? 

And does it not at times appear as 
though the King is calling this espe- 
cially favored people to aid in ushering 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 51 

in that new order of things that is to pre- 
cede the coming of Christ — 

"that divine event 
To which the whole creation moves?" 

Nor will it be a new thing on earth, 
if original purposes honestly intended by 
our country, shall give place to others 
almost entirely different. 

George Washington, speaking in the 
Continental Congress at Philadelphia, 
said that no sensible man could stand 
for independence. But in two years at 
the head of his army he said that inde- 
pendence was the only ground for the 
restoration of peace. 

Abraham Lincoln in his first inaugural 
said that it was not the intention of the 
Republican party nor of his administra- 
tion to meddle with any domestic insti- 
tution (slavery was what he meant). 
But In two years the name of Abraham 
Lincoln was afifixed to the emancipation 
proclamation. 

In the earlier movements for reform 
the founder of one of the largest protest- 
ant bodies of the world resolutely op- 
posed separation from the Church of 
England. But later this same John 



53 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

Wesley recommended the ordaining of 
his ministers without the ofiFices of the 
Estabhshed Church. 

And so is it in the n.atters now pend- 
ing. Conditions have changed since last 
spring when our nation was moved to 
interfere in behalf of the oppressed and 
starving Cubans and reconcentrados. 
That interference, including the expul- 
sion of Spain was the extent of our in- 
tention. It was so published to the 
world. 

But Spain's heart was hardened, and 
on a Sunday morning in last May, in a 
movement that surprised the nations of 
the earth, the firing of a gun was the sig- 
nal for the deliverance of the Spanish is- 
lands of the southern seas from centuries 
of barbarism and misrule, and ''there in 
the sudden tropic dawn the stars of the 
United States rose, beaming, in the 
orient, as we trust, never again to set." 

From some points of view the tasks 
before us are gigantic, but all easily can 
be accomplished if we move on in har- 
mony with the providences of God, if we 
seek the establishment of the Kingdom 
of Christ, and if we take upon ourselves 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 53 

this humane mission resolutely and with- 
out any temporizing delays or policies. 

He who fought the battles of Israel, 
and no less the battles at Manila and 
Santiago, will fight our other battles for 
us, whether in war or diplomacy. 

To Judah in some of her darkest days, 
one of the Jehovah prophets spoke thus : 

I "Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusa- 
env, and thou King: Jehoshaphat. Thus saith the Lord 
unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this 
great multitude ; for the battle is not yours, but God's." 

"Ye shall not need to fi^ht in this battle ; fear not, nor 
be dismayed ; to-morrow go out against them : for the 
Lord will be with you. ***** 

"And when Judah came towards the watchtower in the 
wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and behold, 
they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none 
escaped."! 

Remember "God is where he was," and 
is no less among the nations of the earth 
to-day than in the days of Judah. 

God's thought is the one we must dis- 
cover and is the one with which we must 
confer. If we do this and if he remain 
with us we have nothing to fear. 

But on the other hand we do just as 
firmly believe that if we exclude God from 
the great problems now confronting us, 
and if by reason of a craven fear or a 
greedy selfishness we are indifferent to 

1 2 Chron. xx. 15, 17, 24. 



54 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

the trust that is committed to our hands, 
we have everything to fear ; and it is more 
than Hkely that we shall meet with com- 
plicated difficulties and embarrassments 
in Cuba, in the Philippine Islands and 
possibly elsewhere. 

Had we confidently beHeved in God 
and our destiny at the outset of our con- 
test with Spain, and had we moved on 
under the inspiration of those convic- 
tions, every question would have been 
settled long ago and many of our dead 
heroes would not now be sleeping in 
their graves. 

And pardon me for saying that what 
almost more than anything else remains 
still our danger is, that we shall quietly 
rule God out of the equations that are 
yet before us for solution. 

The question already has been raised, 
not on religious but on commercial and 
prudential grounds, as to what disposi- 
tion shall be made of the Philippine Is- 
lands? In the settlement of that ques- 
tion the purpose of God in miraculously 
putting that misruled territory into our 
hands is in the way of being overlooked. 
O America, do not blunder! The God 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 5o 

of nations has placed those islands of the 
Pacific Ocean at your disposal, not for 
merchandise but to civilize and Chris- 
tianize, and he will hold you responsible 
unless you fulfil your manifest destiny. 

In the words of Ambassador Hay : 
"What has been going on by our agency 
has been a case of the imposition of in- 
visible hands. The moving finger has 
written and it cannot be lured back to 
'cancel half a line.' " 

Our honored President, too, has force- 
fully voiced this same sentiment when 
saying, *'the currents of destiny flow 
through the hearts of the people. Who 
will check them, who will divert them, 
who will stop them? And the move- 
ments of men, planned and designed by 
the Master of men, will never be inter- 
rupted by the American people." 

To be sure this pathway of the future 
may be difficult and dangerous, but there 
should be no hesitation. The Spaniards 
may annoy us by their tricks of delay and 
diplomacy, the Cubans may be unworthy 
of our esteem, and the Filippinos may 
be debased, yet we must move on, for is 
it not God's will and the highest virtue 
known among men to spread Christ's 



o6 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

gospel and to rescue from oppression the 
weak and distressed? And is not this 
precisely what He did who left heaven 
and came to earth to save an inferior, 
sin-cursed and degraded race? 

What ! is extension of territory or im- 
perialism or the abandonment of any 
cherished policy of our country to stand 
in the way of fulfilling such a mission or 
destiny as this? "There is that which 
scattereth and yet increaseth; and there 
is that which withholdeth more than is 
meet, but it tendeth to poverty." This 
also should be said that in our country 
in carrying out its imperial destiny, if you 
are pleased so to name our new evange- 
lizing policy, there is almost everything 
to encourage us. 

The most brilliant era in the history of 
Israel began under David, and at that 
time the kingdom was the most extend- 
ed, stretching from Egypt to the Eu- 
phrates and from Syria to the Red Sea. 
And we read in the condensed but sug- 
gestive war reports of those times an 
account of methods of administration 
the adoption of which might relieve us 
from an existing embarrassment: 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. o? 

"Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus : and 
the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. 
And the Lord preserved David whithersoever he went. 

"And he put garrisons in Edom ; throughout all Edoni 
put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David's 
servants. And the Lord preserved David whithersoever 
he went." 

And we read that David conquered the 
King of Zobah and took from him his 
munitions of war, a thousand chariots, 
and of prisoners seven hundred horse- 
men, and twenty thousand footmen 
who became his subjects; and he slew 
of the Syrians two and twenty thousand 
men. 

And we read that none of the spoils of 
war — silver, gold nor war materials, of 
all the conquered nations were returned 
to them but were dedicated to the Lord 
and were used for religious purposes. 
We read also that David reigned over 
all Israel and executed judgment and 
justice unto all his people.'^ 

And later on we read that the friendly 
relations which had existed between Da- 
vid and King Hiram of Tyre, and Tyre 
was the England of that age, ripened 
into a firm alliance in the time of Solo- 
mon to the great benefit of Israel.^ 

To be sure Carthage, Greece and 

1 2 Sam. viii. -^i Kings v. 12. 



58 "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

Rome was wrecked after entering upon 
a career of expansion, but no careful stu- 
dent of history would think of attrib- 
uting their downfall to extension of ter- 
ritory. 

Spain, too, lost her prestige after her 
territorial possessions encircled the 
globe, but every one must know that 
her downfall came not because of her 
world-wide domains but because of 
the wicked oppression of her subjects, 
and that her greatest plunge downward 
has come in these later years when her 
possessions were more limited than at 
any time during the past three hundred 
years. 

But, on the other hand. Great Britain 
has been no loser by extending her ter- 
ritory. Though on her possessions the 
sun never sets, yet no government on 
earth is mightier than hers. And ever 
since the time that her policy has been to 
aid in elevating and Christianizing the 
countries coming under her sway, God 
has prospered her. 

And, too, if Holland's outlying pos- 
sessions are taken into comparison with 
her limited area and population at home, 
she is one of the greatest colonial powers 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 59 

on earth ; and yet she is prosperous and 
safe. Like Israel under David, but un- 
Hke Germany, P>ance, Spain, and some, 
other powers, she executes ''judgment 
and justice among all the people" of her 
colonies. 

During a period of nearly two hun- 
dred years those Hollanders have ruled 
their colonies in a conscientious manner, 
have made them a paying venture, and 
it is acknowledged that nowhere is the 
traveler safer or more respected than in 
her possessions, because nowhere is the 
native population better treated and pro- 
tected. 

How groundless, almost foolish, are 
our fears, therefore, that the United 
States of America are not able to do for 
the Philippine Islands what little Holland 
has most successfully done for the Dutch 
Indies ! 

If, however, owing to our form of gov- 
ernment, or owing to our system of mak- 
ing appointments, or owing to our po- 
litical corruption and a lack of national 
integrity, or in consequence of any other 
social or political evil, we are unable or 
unwilling to do for our prospective co- 



GO "MANIFEST DESTINY" FROM 

lonial possessions what Holland has 
done for hers, then we already are 
, doomed, and it is only a question of years 
when our republic will no longer be 
worth preserving. 

no, it is not extension of territory 
that endangers the life of a nation, but 
corruption and practical atheism. Im- 
migration is no less perilous than ex- 
pansion. We would better go to other 
people rather than have them come to 
us. 

1 would therefore repeat over and over 
again that we have nothing to fear if we 
listen to God's call, and it is the Spirit 
of the New Testament which tells us 
what that call is and what it requires and 
portends. 

O, America ! lose not your faith in 
God's Word, nor in God himself. Keep 
your hands clean. Stretch them out to 
help those who need helping and there 
will be nothing to fear. He who sets up 
and plucks down the kings and the king- 
doms of the earth, even the Lord Al- 
mighty will be your defence and de- 
fender. 



A RELIGIOUS POINT OF VIEW. 

"Gcd of our fathers, known of old 
Lord of our far-flung battle line— 
Beneath whose awful hand we hold 

Dominion over palm and pine- 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget— lest we forget! 



"if, drunk witli power, we loose 

Wild tongues that have not Thee in aw( 
Such boasting as the Gentiles use, 
Or lesser breeds without the law, 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,' 
Lest we forget— lest we forget!" 



61 



Prof. L. T. TOWNSEND'S 

Publications. 



In these hard times, but times of cheap non-religious 
books and of n uch religious doubt, it frequently has been 
asked why writers and publishers of Christian literature 
cannot place their publications within easy reach of ministers 
and laymen who have but moderate incomes. 

Dr. Townsend already has made moves in this direction, 
securing a reduction in the price of his larger books from 
^$1.50 to $1.00 and then to 75c. 

He has now made such arrangements with his different 
publishers that his books can be sent, postage prepaid, at the 
following prices : — 

Credo, Lost Forever^ Arena and Throne, God-Man, 
Intermediate World, Sword and Garment, Super- 
natural Factor in Revivals, and Fate of Republics 

at sixty cents per volume. 

Bible Theology and Modem Thought (332 pages), 
fifty cents. Art of Speech, forty cents. 

Faith "Work, Christian Science and Other Cures, thirty cents. 

The Bible and other Ancient Literature, twenty- five cents. 

What Noted Men Think of the Bible and What Noted 
Men Think of Christ, ten cents each. 

His two latest books, Evolution or Creation? and Jonah 
in the Light of Higher Criticism, are sent together for 
one dollar. 



In " Evolution or Creation ? " which has just secured for 
Or. Tovvnsend an election to membership in the Victoria In- 
stitute of London, the author challenges the position of the 
evolutionist, presenting a remarkable array of facts and of 
scientific opinion in support of the challenge; and in his 
"Story of Jonah in the Light of Higher Criticism" he 
controverts the interpretation given by the higher critics on 
their own ground to the story of Jonah. This last-nameo 
book, by some of the reviewers, is pronounced to be an im- 
portant contribution to Bible research, especially by reason 
of its application of scientific methods in the study of Bible 
history. 

DR. TOWNSEND^S SERMONS. 

Dr. Townsend, as is well known, occupied the chair 
of Sacred Rhetoric in Boston University for many years, and 
has filled some of the leading Methodist pulpits in the 
Northern and in the middle Southern States, and has served 
some of the leading Congregational pulpits of New England. 
The sermons preached by him in these different pulpits never 
have been published, though their publication repeatedly has 
been asked. 

A selection of the most effective of these sermons has 
been made, and they are now being issued in a neat booklet 
form with paper covers, entitled The Credo Series, and will 
be sent, postage prepaid, at the following rates : Single 
sermon, ten cents, three for twenty-five cents, six for fifty 
cents, and twelve for one dollar. This is the only form in 
which, for the present, they will be pubHshed. 

Your cooperation is kindly solicited in an effort to 
spread this evangelical literature. 

All communications should be addressed to 

L. T. TOWNSEND, D.D., 

Care of John Lanahan, D.D., 

Ii8 E. Baltimore St., BALTIMORE, MD. 



H 30Z 79 ,^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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